Jottings on a windy day

The weather here has changed markedly since the end of last month and we are very rapidly descending into autumn, to be followed by the long winter months.

There's a bit of a breeze in the air today and I've taken the opportunity to hang out the washing and do some gardening. A good day for both. I wonder how many more there will be like it this year?

The crops are nearing their end, but I scarcely think that the produce I've gathered today counts as a good harvest. In short, a few beans, a courgette that just about does, a kohlrabi and some dwarf beetroot (they weren't meant to be small, but that's how they have turned out).

My two remaining courgette plants have come to the end of their life, I decided, so out they came. I shall definitely plant more next year.

The scene is set for winter and I have planted out some onion sets given to me by Kate and four spinach beet plants I have been growing in the conservatory. They join another six already in the ground, sharing the same part of the garden as the onion sets.

We had one of the kohlrabi the other day in a stew, a first for us, and thought it neither good nor bad - not having much of a taste at all. The one I dug up today is in the fridge now and I must look up some recipes. Another four plants remain in the garden, but seem very slow at coming to anything. Likewise with the broccoli, which I have left in the hope they will sprout.

Fewer and fewer beans have been available to pick over the last few days and I guess the two wigwams will be dismantled very soon. The runner beans have been very successful, the french beans less so. They climbed up the poles very well, but haven't really produced that much for eating.

My thoughts are turning to green manure. Must get some.

Handy hint

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Just when I'm thinking about green manure, along comes this handy video from the BBC Dig In website. Thanks.

A bountiful harvest

Absolutely wonderful weather over the last few days in our part of Yorkshire and I have dug up the remainder of my Lady Balfour potatoes. Half were lifted a fortnight or so ago and I left the rest in the ground mainly because of the storage issue. A mountain of spuds has come from the 20 tubers I planted earlier this year, far more than the measly crop of last year. I am really pleased.

I think that next year I shall return to two types of potatoes, say an early and a maincrop, just for variety and to ensure a better flow of produce. At the moment I am quite taken with Bonnie Dundee, simply because of the name's association with my Scottish roots, but we will see. As always, it will be enjoyable looking through the catalogues.

A question arises as to the bare soil left after the harvest. Too late to plant anything now and in any case I will need to improve the soil structure, I guess. Time for green manure. I have two types, phacelia and a rye and I think I will go with the latter, simply because I've tried phacelia before and fancy something different.

Now, what for tea...?

Hunger stalks the land

The harvest has officially failed.

After taking advice from Susan, I have reached the view that the crops will not come through now after all the rain we have had. As I have said before, it was always going to be risky starting the plot when I did. The gamble has failed to come off.

This morning I gave the unused part of the plot a good turning over. Ditto with the other part, where I had been trying to grow lettuce, spinach and rocket. It all got dug over.

I then scattered the Phacelia tanacetifolia which my pals Steve and Marianne recommended as green manure. Or, as it said on the packet, 'broadcast' the seeds. What a delightful word! Roll on early next year when I'll start again.

With no food growing, I now face a trip to Tesco to top up supplies. Or Lidl as we now call it in these hard times that we are experiencing as the economy plunges downwards. (Hey! It's not my fault, says Mr Brown. Funny that,  I seem to remember he was taking the praise when it was going relatively well).

Or, I could book passage to America and start a new life. Except that I don't fancy dancing a jig in the hold all the way across the Atlantic.

 

Mm...green manure. Something to savour

My friends Steve and Marianne, who know all there is know about growing vegetables, urge me to be optimistic about my little patch. Some seeds might wake up and have a look above ground, they tell me.

In particular, they warn me about autumn digging and leaving the sods bare for winter frost to break up.

Here's what they say:

"Soil is a living structure , and needs to interact with plant roots. Only dig ground and put in manure and/or compost just as you're about to sow/plant crops. If you have bare soil grow a green manure in it. One of the best is Phacelia tanacetifolia, which you might have seen growing on our plot. It's not related to any crop plants, so it won't affect your
rotation. Bees love its flowers. It's incredibly easy to pull up and compost. (Don't try the digging in idea: too much hard work!) Phacelia seed is hideously expensive though, but it goes a long way."

Needless to say, I had been planning on leaving the soil bare. I'd never heard of Phacelia or even green manure. Having boned up on it all, I believe I will give it a go.

They get theirs from the Organic Gardening Catalogue and I reckon I will do the same. In fact, I'll peruse it to see if I can buy anything else at the same time for when I do start planting.